He Knew Him Well
by Enchantix6789
Summary: An alternative ending to the Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated episode 'In Fear of the Phantom', in which 2 revelations are focused on: Fred has feelings for Daphne and the Phantom was never working alone... /TRIGGER WARNING: Threat of violence/knife crime./
1. Chapter 1

"I think… I think I understand."

Thorn, Dusk, Luna, and Daphne became shrouded in smoky purple mist, cutting Daphne completely off from Fred's sight. In that moment, Fred realised that his chances were Daphne with next to none.

He _really _had messed up. He'd missed his chance as he'd been too blind to see the burning love radiating from Daphne, which was in front of him all along. Now his blindness had subsided, but it was too late nevertheless. Fred understood now how his ignorance had made Daphne feel: broken, dejected, insignificant.

_Trapped_.

In truth, even though their feelings were now known to each to each other, Fred felt that he didn't deserve her anyway- not after the pain he'd provoked in her. However, Fred new that she _did deserve _to know how he truly felt about her. After all, Fred's inability to have recognised his feelings for Daphne a _long_ time ago was what had hurt her in the first place.

_It's time for her to see I love her too_.

Abruptly, Fred's attention was bought back by Velma who nudged him, signalling that the Phantom had appeared. It was almost time for Fred's ingenious trap to be sprung: after Daphne was fully submerged by the smoke, she would swiftly place Shaggy's dummy 'Harry' (which had been stuck to the back of her throne) in her place, covering him with her cloak and then, through the fog, dash to the rest of the gang who were at the side of the stage. This would be enough to initially fool the Phantom, but the gang new it was not enough to create an opportunity to apprehend him; so, Daphne would tether the dummy to the throne, and this would cause the Phantom to be hauled back onto the stage in a failed attempt to kidnap 'Daphne'. Finally, a weighted net would fall and trap them.

Simple.

Squinting though the smoke, Fred desperately tried to see if Daphne had made it offstage in time. The mist cleared, and Fred panicked as he saw a cloaked figure sitting in the chair.

"Like man don't worry, that's not Daphne, she made it out." Shaggy whispered to Fred, picking up on his distress.

Much to his relief, Fred realised shaggy was right. He'd been fixating so much on the stage that he'd not even noticed Daphne creep behind him. He exhaled, having been oblivious to the fact that he was holding his breath to begin with. Fred offered her a small smile, to which she did not requite, instead giving him a chilling glare. Fred's heart plummeted.

"I warn you, and you disobey!" Boomed the Phantom from above. "So _this _will _be…_ your dying day!" Fred reached for Daphne's hand, but she rapidly snatched it away.

The Phantom swooped down like a Falcon to its prey, heading straight for the disguised dummy.

Yes! He had been deceived! All had gone to plan, now all that was left was for the phantom to be captured.

But no-one had realised.

_The Phantom continued to hurtle downwards._

Shaggy had spent every waking moment trying to get his best pal back.

_Edging closer and closer._

Scooby had been engrossed in getting revenge on his ex-best pal.

_His gold and black hand outstretched._

Velma was persistently trying to gain the attention of the Hex girls (in vain).

_Harry was abducted from the throne._

Daphne was busy coming to terms with the fact that she needed to get over Fred.

_The ascent of the vengeful villain began. _

Fred was busy coming to terms with the fact that he had feelings for Daphne.

_Not even a few feet above the stage floor, the Phantom released his grasp on Harry, and he swung back up to the light trusses._

Yes, they'd all been too preoccupied.

A spotlight swivelled to where Daphne and the rest of the gang were hiding, illuminating the gothed-up girl.

_Too preoccupied to realise…_

"Run!" Velma exclaimed.

The gang sprinted for the doors, but Fred tripped and crashed to the floor.

Swivelling around after hearing Fred fall, Daphne ran over to him. "Fred!"

Fred looked up to see not only Daphne coming towards him, but also the Phantom! "Daphne, no! Run!"

Ignoring him, Daphne dived for his hand, but the Phantom lurched towards her and a shrill scream escaped her lips. She along with the Phantom disappeared in a cloud of smoke and sparks. The controller of the spotlight smirked.

…_Too preoccupied to realise that the Phantom wasn't working alone._


	2. Chapter 2

A cacophony of petrified screams erupted in the Terror Dome Stadium, as the concert-attenders all unanimously bee-lined for the exit in a barbaric panic. Gus attempted to usher everybody out in an orderly fashion, but his orders and words of reassurance were drowned out by the pandemonium.

Evaluating the current crisis, The Hex girls, Fred, Scooby, Velma, and Shaggy gathered in the band's dressing room. Fred replayed the incident over and over again in his mind, as if it were the only memory in his brain. _This time it __**was **__my fault. _Fred was losing it again, which was blatantly obvious due to his increasing breathing rate, constant pacing, and clenched fists.

Velma made the mistake of attempting to comfort him. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Fred-"

"It's all my fault!" Fred exploded, knocking off Velma's hand and leaving it stranded in the air.

The others backed away slightly, as if Fred was a grenade about to detonate.

"Fred, no-one blames you for this," Velma tried again.

"But I do! Every time Daphne is captured it's because of my traps!"

"Like it wasn't your fault the traps didn't work." Shaggy reassured as he hesitantly walked over to Fred and Velma. "Well, at least not the last time or the firs- _yow_!"

Velma swiftly elbowed Shaggy and shot him daggers.

Seeing red, Thorn stepped in. "Okay, let's just focus on figuring out how to get Daphne back."

"Well, we know the Phantom is definitely Daniel- a.k.a Fantzee Pantz-" Velma stated (referring to the fact that no-one had seen him since before the show (and that he had motive)) as she pulled up the 'Fantzee Pantz' music video on her laptop. "Now we just need to figure who his accomplice is."

Shaggy thought for a moment. "Well if you ask me, I still don't like the looks of Gus."

Dusk's brow furrowed. "Why would Gus want to end his own group's career?"

"Like I don't know, but he managed Fantzee Pantz. Like, how would he not have recognise Daniel?"

"That's true, but now this means that everyone who works or has worked with our record label is a suspect." Luna pointed out.

"Right." Velma agreed. "We trust no-one a part from everyone in this room."

The others nodded in compliance.

"Rhat about Raphne?" Scooby-Doo questioned, looking up to Velma.

"Well, I don't think that Daniel is going to hurt her." Velma reassured as she petted Scooby. "He didn't the first time."

"Like yeah but, he set the Hex Girls' tour bus on fire knowing that Scoob and I were in there!"

"And he did say that this would be our "dying day"."

"Yeah, maybe he was being serious-"

"Stop it! Stop it, all of you!" Fred hollered. "I can't believe you guys would even consider he might-… he might…"

Disconcerted by his outburst, and by the thought of losing Daphne, Fred whisked himself out of the dressing room. "I'm sorry."

"Fred wait-" Velma began before being cut off by Thorn, who placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Velma, I'll handle him."

Velma nodded and Thorn exited also.

Spotting him head to the stage, Thorn hastily followed Fred. She was on high alert when passing any stage crew and production team members still lurking there- she didn't know who could be trusted. Upon arrival, the singer watched Fred inspecting the throne with Harry still tethered to it, shaking his head as he did so.

"Hey, Fred."

Fred sighed. "Oh, hey Thorn. Sorry about what happened back there."

Thorn knelt down next to Fred. "It's ok- I pushed you to the ground earlier, so I guess we're even now-" she offered in an attempt to lighten the mood, "sorry about that by the way."

"Ah, that's okay. I deserved it anyway."

There was a long, slightly uncomfortable silence before Fred spoke again.

"I think you guys better handle this on your own. I'm not in a good state of mind to be dealing with this and honestly, I don't think Daphne would want _me_ to save her."

"No. If we're gonna get Daphne back, then we need you, Fred. And Daphne _would_ want you to save her. Do you really think that she wouldn't?" Thorn stood back up. "If you want to prove to her that you love her, make it up to her, and save her life… you need to pull yourself together and get back in there."

Fred processed all Thorn had said for a moment and got off his knees also. "You're right Thorn. Thanks for talking some sense into me," He said sincerely.

"No problem Fred," She smiled.

"Hey," Luna greeted as she walked over to Thorn and Fred. "We're going to go search the-" She paused then began again in a more hush tone, remembering the current trustworthiness of the stage crew, who were within close proximity of them. "We're going to search for clues now. I'll catch you up back at our dressing room." She glanced at Fred. "If you're up for it, that is?"

Fred nodded.

"Of course."


	3. Chapter 3

Luna, Thorn, and Fred re-joined the rest of the gang in the Hex Girls' dressing room. The trepidation in the room was tangible. The uncertainty of Daphne's safety had started to get to everyone- Fred the most. Upon his return, Fred apologised to others, receiving understanding smiles in response.

In the time Fred and Thorn had been gone, the gang had concocted a plan on how to catch Gus out (if Shaggy was right and he was the Phantom), and had concluded where to search for clues. Luna would discreetly follow their manager to observe any suspicious behaviour, and Thorn would be searching around Daniel's possessions to find a lead as to where he might be keeping Daphne. Shaggy and Scooby would scale the Terror Dome Stadium in search of her, while Velma and Dusk would search the control booth for clues, and Fred the stage.

"Does anyone even know where Gus is now?" Dusk asked.

Luna thought for a moment. "I saw him head somewhere towards the restrooms when I went to get Fred and Thorn. He's probably in there sorting his hair, and he'll probably still be there now, you know how long he takes him to get ready."

"Longer than we do before a show." Dusk remarked.

"Alright, I think we're all set." Velma announced. "Let's go gang."

The group headed out pair by pair or individually so as not to attract too much attention. Luna exited first, so as to ensure she didn't completely lose Gus. She figured that if he'd already left the restrooms- and he _was _working with Daniel- it would be likely that he would have made his getaway already. Fortunately, Gus left the restrooms a few moments after Luna had positioned herself around the corner from the black corridor where the restrooms resided. As Gus headed in her direction it was then that she realised she had picked a very indiscreet place to observe him- there was no way Gus wouldn't see her there! Luna futilely slinked back into the shadows as far as she could. _Whoops..._

**XXXXX **

Shaggy and Scooby were the next to start their mission, choosing to begin their search for Daphne underneath the stage. Even here it was decorated for the Mayor's 'Phantom Day': ghost decorations were strewn about, evidently done so in a rush. They weren't particularly realistic looking, but the darkness engulfing the area caused them to seem frightening to both Scooby and Shaggy nevertheless- not that they were going to admit that to each other during their quarrel. Albeit lesser, tensions were still present between the pair- tension also because they were so worried about Daphne. Shaggy was about to make a remark about Harry, but then Scooby let out an anxious whimper that persuaded him to discard the idea.

"Hey Scoob, can we like please just forget this stupid fight? It's not gonna help Daph if we're too stubborn to search for her together."

Scooby looked at his buddy with his trademark puppy dog eyes. "I'm sorry, Raggy."

"I'm sorry too, Scoob." Shaggy smiled weakly and the once-again-best-friends hugged (to the best extent they could do in the cramped space).

Their reconciliation, however, was cut short by something creeping down their backs…

"Aaahhhh!"

**XXXXXXX (S+S END) **

Thorn was up next. Firstly, she swivelled her head from shoulder to shoulder as she left her dressing room, making certain that no-one was looking, then slinked away from the stadium and into the parking lot. Locating Daniel's RV wasn't particularly difficult, as the parking lot was now sparse with vehicles, due to the fans fleeing the venue in terror. It was a sorry-looking, large, but basic white RV with out-of-place-looking purple hubcaps. _I__'m surprised Daniel didn't keep our tour bus for himself rather than torch it, and replace this heap of junk. _

Thorn had never really liked Daniel. From the very beginning of their working together it was clear to Thorn that Daniel did not hold a very high opinion of her at all; that combined with Thorn's stubbornness made it inevitable that the two would but heads one more than one occasion. Though she could never really quite put her finger on why it was that Daniel disliked her. To be honest, he wasn't particularly friendly with Dusk and Luna either. The girls had always reckoned that it was due to their personalities clashing, but now Thorn was realising that he must have a personal vendetta against them to go to such lengths to destroy them and their career. Though try as she might, she struggled to deduce what it was they could have possibly done to make them such enemies of Daniel.

Scanning the parking lot for a method of entering the RV, her eyes fell upon a large rock. She felt an inkling of guilt for what she was about to do but justified herself with the fact that Daniel was probably going to be behind bars for many years- he wouldn't need his RV in jail, now would he? The rock merely cracked the glass after the first throw so another attempt had to be made. _Maybe I didn't give this RV enough credit after all. _

The second throw was enough to penetrate the glass, creating a big enough hole for Thorn to reach in and twist the lock from the inside. Carefully stepping over the glass shards, the singer took in the RV's interior. She didn't really have an idea of what she was looking for- just anything to give her an idea of where Daph might be.

Various photos stuck up on one of the walls drew her attention, and so inspected them first. One photo was punctured by numerous darts, which piqued Thorn's curiosity and she edged towards it.

"Whoa."

Thorn stepped back, bumping into a refrigerator as she did. More photos decorated the appliance, one of which caught her eye immediately.

"Well… this was unexpected."

**XXXXXX (THORN END)**

Velma and Dusk acquired keys from a stagehand for the control booth before heading off. The entire time Velma was trying not to scream in excitement from getting to team up with Dusk. Her fangirling ceased however as she began to feel guilt settle inside of her about her excitement. _Now's not the time, _she mentally rebuked herself, suppressing her ecstasy as much as she could.

Just as they reached the booth, the girls could hear a groan coming from inside. They unlocked the door to find the control booth operator on the floor, clutching his head.

"Are you okay?" Velma inquired after him as she and Dusk helped him up onto a chair.

"Do I look okay to you?" The man spat.

"Geez, sorry for trying to help you!" Dusk snapped back.

"Sorry." He muttered half-heartedly.

"What happened?" Velma enquired. She knew she probably needed to get help for the man but enough time had already been wasted.

"Oh I don't know! I was just in here, doing my job, not long before the concert was set to start, and I heard something behind me and _bam!_\- I'm knocked out cold."

"Did you see whoever knocked you out?" Velma adjusted her glasses and assessed the room. "Did you see anything strange at all?"

He rolled his eyes. "Well I was a little busy getting KOed, but I do remember the last thing I saw: a flash of purple."

Dusk and Velma looked at each other knowingly.

"Are you alright getting out of he-"

"I can take care of myself, thank you." The girls watched the man stomp out of the door, swaying a little as he did.

Dusk turned back to Velma. "Well he was a cheery guy."

"Indeed," Velma said. "But at least our suspicion is confirmed: unless that was Daphne who knocked him out, there's only one other purple-wearing person around here who the accomplice could be."

**XXXXXXX (V+D END)**

Finally, after time for Fred had dragged on infinitely, he left the dressing room to search the stage. In actuality, Fred had only been searching for about 10 minutes, but Fred was becoming increasingly frustrated by his lack of progress. It felt like he had been assigned the most pointless of the tasks, as he was certain that there was nothing to find here, nothing to be of any actual use, just that stupid dummy. Harry was hurled to the floor. Fred sighed, _come on Fred, keep it together _and kneeled down to inspect Harry once more.

From a not too far away distance, Fred could hear the gladsome guffaw of his father intertwined with the unmistakable voice of Sheriff Stone. He turned around to see that his Dad was en route to the main exit.

_How can he leave now when no-one's found Daphne yet? _He thought, consternated. Fred hastened over to him. _"_Dad! Where are you going?"

"Hi Fred! Phantom Day was a huge success! We made _enormous_ profit, the Phantom of course helped with that! He _really _increased the number of attendees tonight- what more is there to do?" He gazed proudly upon the wad of notes he was grasping in his hands. "Come on son, let's go home."

"But Dad! What about Daphne?"

Truthfully, in all of the excitement of Phantom Day, the Mayor had forgotten that something grave had actually occurred tonight. "Well son... there's nothing anyone can really do for Daphne right now."

"What? Of course there is! We can go and find her!"

"Bug-eyed biscuits, Fred! You and your friends can't get involved with something like _this_! It's out of your league. You need to leave this in the hands of the professionals." He motioned to Sherriff Stone a few metres away from them, who seemed to be investigating the cafeteria area rather than the kidnapping.

"I can't believe you! Don't you think the more people trying to find her the better? Don't you even care that... oh wait. You don't care."

"Fred, of course I care, but-"

"You care more about your 'Phantom Day' more than about Daphne's safety. You were more than happy for her to go on tonight, even though she was in danger of being hurt by the phantom! Now look where that got her."

"Fred I-"

Already, Fred had turned away from his father, making a beeline for the stage. "Just go home, Dad." Fred began muttering to himself, "Don't worry Daph, I'm not giving up on you."

**XXXXXXX (FRED END)**

Daphne wrote Trap of Love in terms of traps because she knew that it would be the only way to get through to Fred, to make him understand how she felt. Now that stupid, _stupid _song was stuck in her head. The lyrics played over and over again like the incessant nagging of a guilty conscience. It just _had_ to be the song that wouldn't leave her head right now. Unwanted feelings were elicited by it and this was the _worst_ possible time, Daphne thought.

Frantically, she struggled against the ropes that bound her as Daniel- who had now had no need to disguise himself, and so had discarded his mask- jaunted over to her, grinning wickedly. There was something unnerving in his gait- a slight sway, likely present because he was giddy with the success of his sick scheme.

"I don't know what you think you've accomplished, Daniel. This is the _second _time you've taken me, and The Hex Girls _still _haven't quit." Daphne stated fiercely, masking her inner fear.

Daniel stopped a few feet away from her, close enough for Daphne to see the malicious smirk he sported. "Oh but you haven't given them enough time. And if they don't quit? Well…" The villain drew a gleaming knife from the back of his belt. "Then we'll just have to get them out of the music business another way. Care for a trial run?"


End file.
